Class, Poison, Dialogue

Queen is a scientist before he is a fighter, and one of the most outstanding scientists on the sea after excluding the bug that is Vegapunk, so he's quite suitable to teach cultural classes.

However, even as such a brilliant scientist, when teaching a group of children only a few years old, he still has to start from the most basic level.

"Come on, write this word ten times."

Queen sat lazily on the ground with a blackboard beside him. He wrote a word on it. "This word means soup. Add it to the 'rice cake' and 'red beans' from before, and you get oshiruko. This is the most important word in the world."

It was completely at the level of Elementary School Chinese.

And it was even lower-grade Chinese! If there were textbooks, there would be Pinyin annotations!

I was actually looking forward to this a bit.

On top of that, the guy was even including his personal agenda in the lesson.

Still, Sirius silently picked up his pen and began copying.

Although he had inherited the original body's memories, that original body was just an ordinary six-year-old child. Even if he had received some education, it was very limited, and he truly didn't recognize many characters.

Sirius had no intention of being illiterate. Only after mastering this language could he learn the Ancient Text. So despite his inner grumbling, he listened very attentively.

In fact, he wasn't the only one listening carefully; the others were also engaged.

The main reason was that although Queen seemed unreliable, he was genuinely skilled at teaching. The guy was very humorous, always cracking jokes while lecturing, making everyone laugh heartily. The classroom atmosphere was excellent.

The Chinese class lasted about an hour and a half, followed by ten minutes of free activity time, and then math class, which naturally started from the basics of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.

As for why they had to learn math, Sirius asked Queen, and Queen replied that math was the foundation of all sciences. Even if one didn't pursue research later, the navigation essential for pirates would require math knowledge.

It could only be said that Onigashima's education was very systematic.

It was worth mentioning that after math class began, the faces of the full-of-energy Yamato and the always serious Jack fell. Especially Yamato, who kept showing a bewildered expression at intervals.

After finishing another knowledge point, Queen glanced at his watch and casually tossed the chalk away.

"Alright, class ends. Go eat, you brats!"

Since there was no such thing as a class bell, the end time depended entirely on when Teacher Queen was willing to dismiss.

But it seemed Teacher Queen didn't have a habit of extending class time.

"Finally, lunch! My head's spinning!"

Yamato, who had been listless since math class started, instantly perked up. "Numbers are really hard to understand!"

"That's right," Jack nodded in deep agreement. "Math is a great enemy!"

What great enemy?!

This is just first-grade elementary school math!

Even if you're poor students, you're being way too poor!

Sirius calmly closed his notebook.

Basic math was nothing to him. The focus was on Chinese. In that regard, he was on the same starting line as Yamato and the others—it was something that required rote memorization.

Just as they were leaving the room to go eat.

"Hey, brat, come here a second." Queen waved at Sirius.

Sirius was a bit surprised but still walked over. "Uncle Queen, is there some homework?"

"Homework? Good idea, but no."

Queen grinned. "But I might try it later."

Sirius's eye twitched. Had he just opened some kind of Pandora's box?

"Kid, you can secrete toxins, right?" Queen said.

"That's right."

Sirius nodded. It wasn't a secret, so why bring it up now?

"Give me some."

Queen handed Sirius a beaker. Seeing Sirius's puzzled look, he said, "A deadly poison that could even take down Boss Kaido—I'm very interested in it."

So he wanted to analyze his toxin? Try to replicate it or develop an antidote?

Sirius hesitated. This deadly poison was, after all, his trump card.

Magellan's invincible Venom-Venom Fruit was completely countered by antidotes—that was a lesson from the past!

Seeing Sirius's hesitation, Queen sneered. "Don't look down on me, kid! This is a good thing for you!"

"Once I study your toxin thoroughly, I can figure out whether its properties can be altered, and then try to create various different poisons."

He glanced at Sirius. "You don't think just one type of poison is enough, do you?"

Sirius said nothing. He directly transformed into his Werewolf form, took the beaker from Queen's hand, opened his mouth wide, and venom surged out, filling the beaker completely.

Handing the beaker back to Queen, Sirius said, "Is that enough, Uncle Queen?"

What Queen said made a lot of sense.

Although he could secrete toxins, Sirius himself didn't understand his own poison very well.

Not to mention creating other types of toxins, Sirius still didn't even know what effects his own poison would produce.

He really should figure out his ability.

Taking the beaker filled with venom from Sirius's hand, Queen grinned with satisfaction. "Muhahaha, good, I'll get results as soon as possible!"

"Maybe my Plague Calamity Bomb can evolve even further!"

Sirius didn't care about that—after all, how could a guy like Queen go through all this trouble just to help him? The Plague Calamity Bomb was the main goal.

"Uncle Queen, I can also breathe fire. Do you need to study that too?" Sirius asked hopefully.

Since he was researching poison, not looking into fire seemed like favoring one and neglecting the other.

But Queen sneered dismissively. "What a joke? What's there to study about fire? Who can't use that stuff?"

Sirius thought about it.

Flame abilities seemed pretty common. There were way too many people on the sea who could use fire attacks—it wasn't anything rare. Right now on Onigashima, five people could use it in the present and future: Kaido, King, Queen, Sirius, and future Maria.

There really wasn't anything worth researching.

In short, the Flame-Flame Fruit? Even dogs wouldn't eat it.

Queen suddenly stared at Sirius with a very strange look, grinning weirdly. "But if you're interested in body modification, I wouldn't mind helping out!"

A chill ran down Sirius's spine. He suddenly remembered Queen's glorious achievement in the manga of turning a Brachiosaurus into a Brachiosnake—modifying it so that its head, neck, spine, and tail shot out like cannonballs. That kind of modification was definitely not something a normal person would do.

"Haha, Yamato's calling me to eat."

Sirius let out a dry laugh and bolted away in a flash.

He'd pass on that kind of modification.

Yamato and the other two were still waiting outside for Sirius.

Seeing him come out, Yamato leaned in curiously and asked, "Sirius, what did Uncle Queen keep you for?"

A look of sudden terror appeared on her face, as if she'd remembered something horrible. "Don't tell me he made you stay to do math problems? That's terrifying!"

"Indeed." Jack nodded deeply in agreement.

What was so scary about that?

Sirius said casually, "No, we just talked a bit about ability development."

"Ability?"

Yamato scratched her hair, a little envious. "That's great, Sirius's ability is really impressive. I wish I had one too."

"Just have Uncle Kaido find one for you," Sirius said.

"But if I eat a fruit, I won't be able to swim anymore..."

The four of them chatted as they walked toward the cafeteria.

At the dining hall, they ordered two tables full of food and sat down.

"You haven't finished the story from before, have you, Yamato?" Black Maria asked eagerly. "What happened after Oden met the Pirate King?"

Jack also sat up straight, looking very expectant.

The two of them had been completely captivated by the magnificent sea Yamato described.

Yamato was also very happy to share Oden's story, eating and talking at the same time.

Sirius focused on eating, only chiming in to remind or correct Yamato when she forgot or got something wrong.

"How wonderful,"

Black Maria sighed after Yamato finished another segment. "The sea out there... is it really that interesting?"

Jack also said longingly, "What a great adventure!"

"It's really fun!" Yamato said cheerfully. "That's why Sirius and I say we definitely have to go out to sea."

Then her eyes lit up as she looked at Black Maria and Jack. "Jack, Maria, why don't you come with us? Let's set sail together?"

Black Maria's mouth opened slightly, looking a little wistful, but then she waved her hand. "No, no, no. Lord Kaido has been very kind to me. I have to become a courtesan to repay him."

Jack nodded vigorously too. "Same here! I have to repay Boss Kaido's kindness!"

Sirius swallowed a piece of meat, reached out to grab a large bone-in cut, and said, "Just repay Uncle Kaido's kindness first and then set sail. That's what I'm thinking."

"Huh?"

Black Maria was taken aback. "Can it be like that?"

"Why not?" Sirius said casually. "Repaying Uncle Kaido's kindness and achieving your own dreams don't have to be at odds."

Black Maria and Jack exchanged a glance.

After a long moment, Jack said, "I... I want to help Boss Kaido become the Pirate King."

"I... uh... I want to become the number one courtesan in Wano Country," Maria declared loudly.

"That's great. Everyone has something they want to do," Sirius said with a smile. "I just hope all our dreams come true."

Jack and Black Maria seemed to breathe a sigh of relief.

The atmosphere afterward was a bit strange.

Fortunately, Yamato was completely oblivious to it. Seeing Jack and Maria both reject her suggestion, she felt a little dejected, but she quickly perked up and started telling stories.

Children have short memories, so the atmosphere soon became harmonious again.

After lunch and a short rest, the afternoon lessons began.

When they arrived at the training ground, King was already waiting there.

King looked at Sirius. "Before the afternoon training starts, I need to run a test on you, kid."

Again?

Tomorrow, the recommendation finally comes. The pathetic author is crying.

Hope my dear readers will show their support!